


Ai no Kizuna : "Bonds of Love"

by bittenfeld



Category: Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger
Genre: Friends to Lovers, M/M, Male Slash, Slash
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-15
Updated: 2018-08-17
Packaged: 2019-06-11 00:06:23
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,040
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15303057
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bittenfeld/pseuds/bittenfeld
Summary: During their escape from the Zangyack army, Sid is captured.  But before he is to be turned over to Scientist Zaien to be transformed into a mind-wiped cyborg, Joe returns to rescue him.New - chapter 2:  Discovered by Zangyack troops, Joe's and Sid's escape is foiled.  Until an angel in a red pirate coat appears and evens the odds...“Thanks for the assist,” Joe offered gratefully.  A shift of head indicated the gold-buttoned red coat the other man wore.  “But you’re a pirate – you want money, and I have no money to pay you.”  The man grinned, a bright charming attractive smile.  “It’s not money I want,” he announced, direct gaze holding Joe’s gaze, as he amended cheerfully with specific emphasis, “It’s you.”





	1. Chapter 1

Again the electric lash snapped viciously across the raw meat of a torn flank; again Sid shrieked, muscles contracting sharply with the fiery shock.  He kept praying that each blow would finally be the one to kill him and release him from this agony.  But the gods offered him no such mercy.

In a warehouse on the far edge of camp, in amongst crates and pieces of stored equipment, Sid hung forward on his knees, helplessly, weakly, stripped to the waist, his outstretched arms locked between two posts, hands encased in white metal electronic box-shackles.  The stretch of his arms tore open the bullet wounds in his left shoulder and right bicep.  He could only scream and writhe, body jerking spastically, as his torturer lashed him, shocking him and burning him.  The acrid smell of his own branded flesh stung his nostrils.  Cruelly the whip deliberately cut and singed the wounds in his shoulder and arm, the two ripping his right flank, the one penetrating his left thigh.  Red haze of excruciating pain bellied up over his senses, nearly blinding him. 

Finally pausing in his onslaught, the Zangyack momentarily dropped his whip arm and with his free hand, clutched a fistful of wet sweaty black hair on the top of Sid’s head and yanked his head up roughly.  Weakly, teary moist eyes half-opened to watch his tormentor, General Gergey, his ex-battalion commander.

The general smirked.  “How did you think your little dash for freedom would end, Bamick?  You really thought a deserter and traitor could escape the entire Imperial army?  Well, fine, if you don’t feel like fighting with your unit anymore, then you don’t have to.  You’ll just be allowed to serve your fellow soldiers in another way.  And it’s just a matter of time before we catch your little bed-toy too.  And when we do, you’ll get to watch while the whole battalion enjoys him as well.”

Bed-toy.  So that’s what they thought Joe was to him.  “… no…” he managed to gasp a broken sob.  What happened to him didn’t matter.  But the thought of Joe suffering hurt worse than anything else.  They both had soberly understood the chance they were taking in defying the Zangyack Empire, but he had to believe that Joe got away safely.  That was the only thought that made his own suffering the least bit bearable.

“No?” the general mocked, sharply jerking Sid’s head by the hair, lancing a violent thrust of pain through the shoulder wound.  “You think your little bed-whore will be able to hide anywhere in the galaxy?”

A tiny flare of smug retort flashed in Sid’s tired eyes.  Joe was superb at stealth and survival, certainly as good as his teacher.  He’d learned his lessons well.  He could fight bare-handed, he could live off the land bare-handed.  If there was any chance at all, Joe would survive, if he could just get far enough away.

The grip tightened in his hair.  “But anyway, we have something even more special planned for you, lieutenant.  Great Scientist Zaien has been developing a method to turn humans into cyborgs.  Your whole body is transformed into metal, with all your battle skills left intact.  Maybe you keep your mind, or maybe you don’t, but either way, you become a perfect fighting machine with no will of your own, completely loyal and obedient to Emperor and your commander.  Now he needs a live body to experiment on, and congratulations, Bamick, you’ve just volunteered.  A fitting punishment for a traitor, don’t you agree?  At least that way you can make some recompense for your crimes.”

A shiver chilled Sid’s body, a pain worse than anything physical surged through him, and his lips went cold.  Physical pain he could endure, even if it killed him.  But the agony of having his body destroyed and turned into some artificial monstrosity while he still lived, was terrifying; and to be turned into a loyal slave cur for the Empire – the very thing he had tried to escape – was nearly unbearable.

Then releasing Sid’s hair, the general stepped behind him, moving in close so his heavy body pushed up against Sid’s kneeling sagging form.  One large hand reached around Sid’s throat, not brutal now, not choking, but almost softly, caressing, pressing Sid’s head back against an iron-hard belly.  And Sid understood what was coming next, even before the officer spoke – after all, he had observed it often enough with numerous prisoners that he himself had delivered to his commander during his service.

“But you know what, lieutenant?” Gergey was saying.  “Maybe none of that has to happen to you after all.  You’ve committed serious crimes, but before that, you were a good loyal soldier.  As your High Commander, I have a large say in how you’re dealt with.  I’ll stand up for you and have the charges dismissed.” – that was lie, Sid knew, when it came to crimes of desertion and treason – “All you have to do is give yourself to me.  Anyway, a grown man like you, I think you’d prefer a real fuck, rather than that soft pretty little bed-toy of yours.”

That almost made Sid smile despite his pain.  Joe pretty, yes – as pretty as a porcelain doll – but soft?  Joe could run any assignment, could take out targets twice his size without even a quiver.  Call him ‘soft’ to his face, and you might not even live long enough to regret it.

“As a matter of fact, I’ve had my eye on you for some time, Bamick, and been thinking we should get better acquainted.  For a human, you’ve got a nice hard body, and I know it would feel real good under mine.  You just beg me for it, and I’ll take care of everything.”

It was the same familiar game, just as Sid had fore-known.  First terrify the prisoner with descriptions of the penalties they faced, then offer a chance to escape that fate by surrendering to the general.  If the prisoner was civilian, or some young inexperienced soldier in the bottom ranks of the battalion, they would usually give in and acquiesce to being his bed-toy for all his perversions – if not, he would rape them anyway, then deliver them to the promised punishment.

“What do you say, Bamick?” the Zangyack hissed in his ear, the hot dirty breath making his stomach lurch.  “Oh, I know you’re too injured right now to do much.  But just offer yourself to me now, and I’ll release your cuffs, and take you on the floor, and we can both have at least a little taste of what’s to come.”

Sid’s gaze was focused on the shifting shadows between the crates and equipment across from them.  Almost despite himself a tiny sound broke in his throat.  “It hurts… I can’t take anymore… please no more…,” he finally gasped, voice exhausted and weak.  “… please… whatever you want… Please...”

“That’s all I needed to hear, my little fuck-toy – although I’m a little surprised a seasoned officer like you surrendered so fast,” the monster behind him purred roughly, bending down for a presumptive lick up the nape of Sid’s neck, and an obscene hand pushing down over Sid’s bare chest and belly and down into the front of his pants.

“… wait …” Sid managed, body twisting limply against the abuse.  “… cuffs… please… it hurts so much… my wounds… please…”

“I said I would, didn’t I?” the rough voice grinned.  And momentarily pulling his touch from inside Sid’s clothes, he keyed the release code into each of the boxes encompassing Sid’s hands –  nasty devices, the mechanism of which was triggered to explode if tampered with.  “See how nice I can be?”

Finally freed, Sid collapsed limply to the dirty floor, sweating, panting desperately for breath.  But then abruptly the breath screamed from his lungs as the general rolled him onto his back and jerked his arms over his head.

“You’re my toy now,” the Zangyack promised gruffly.  “We’ll take care of your wounds later.  Right now you’re going to show how grateful you are, and be real nice to me.”

“…yes…” Sid gasped, dull gaze fastened on the shadows over his abuser’s shoulder.  “…do it now…”

Sharp teeth showed in a nasty grin.  “You just keep talking like that, lieutenant, and we’ll get along real well.”  He started to maneuver himself over Sid.

But in that moment, from the shadows, a body launched itself on top of the commander, knocking him over, and locking itself on his back, an arm around a thick neck. Taken by surprise, the massive Zangyack reared up with a big roar, twisting roughly to dislodge the gadfly.  But the smaller attacker stayed put, riding him like a crazed bull, not giving an inch, until a sharp blow to a pressure point dropped Gergey paralyzed, and a lean strong arm locked around his throat while the other hand cupped his head.

“Sempai wasn’t talking to you, you pile of shit,” Joe spoke calmly and levelly in the general’s ear.  “He was talking to me.”

From the floor, raising his head with the only strength he had, Sid managed a disgusted sneer. “No way... would I ever... give myself to you, bastard...  go to hell… General…”  Then shifting his tired gaze to Joe, he gave a short weak nod.

And with one sharp twist, Joe snapped the Zangyack’s neck.

Then dropping the heavy body, hurriedly, in deep concern Joe knelt before Sid.  Eyes welling moisture took in the brutal damage, the half-dozen torn-open bullet holes, the electric burns crisscrossing ruined flesh, the blood streaking pallid skin.  “Oh god…” he managed in a hoarse wavering voice.  Carefully, as if handling paper-thin glass, Joe reached a hand to touch the white shock of Sid’s forelock amidst midnight-black hair.  “… oh god, sempai… what did they do to you?  I never should have left you…” 

“And what… good would that have done… for us both to be caught?”  Limply Sid’s body heaved with each quivering breath.  “Get… out of here, Joe… you shouldn’t have… come back for me…”

“Shido sempai…”  The image of Sid’s face wavered in welling tears.  “I could have lost you…”  Then without even realizing he was going to do it, without even questioning, Joe leaned forward and kissed his senior ever so lightly on the mouth.

A pained frown creased Sid’s brow.  “What… was that for?”

“I… I’m sorry…” Joe stammered, pulling back.  “I just…”  In embarrassment he turned away to hide the heat rising in his face.

“Joe…” Sid insisted through broken gasps, “… best thing you can do… is shoot me… kill me quickly… so they can’t… torture me anymore… then you run…  Like you should have… done… in the first place.”

 “Baka,” Joe tossed back, turning his attention to the dead Zangyack, quickly, efficiently stripping the body of weapons and jacket.  “Since when does my sempai talk so stupid?”

Weakly Sid chided, “Since when… does the junior… speak to his sempai like that?”

“When sempai starts talking like an idiot.  We get out of here together, or we go down together.  You’re not going to play the martyr for my sake.”

“Now… who’s talking stupid?” Sid retorted, forcing out what few words he could.  “You need… to survive, Joe…  We’re not both going to… get out of here… Need to escape… and live for… both our sakes.”

Hurriedly Joe grabbed a few more weapons and items he found close by that might come in handy, wrapping them in the Zangyack’s coat as a make-shift pack.  “We can argue about this later.  We’re getting out now.”

“I’ll just… slow you down … Joe, I can’t walk.”

Pausing to toss a dry look at the older man, Joe shot a quick retort.  “You’ll walk, if I have to carry you.”

At the unintentional absurd comment, Sid glanced up at him, then they both grinned, the tension broken.

“All right,” Sid relented with a tiny smile, the barest little fiber of strength growing in his eyes.  “Let’s… get out of here.”

“C’mon,” Joe urged quietly, hefting his pack and carefully steadying his senior.  “I saw a hover-shuttle nearby.  You just need to hold on that far, then we’ll be home free.” 

* * * * *

 _to be continued_ …


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Discovered by Zangyack troops, Joe's and Sid's escape is foiled. Until an angel in a red pirate coat appears and evens the odds...

Finally, having flown the shuttle to a nearby planet, they figured they could stop and rest for a little while.   Half-holding, half-supporting Sid, Joe helped him over to a small stream nearby.  Sid was weak from his wounds.  Joe found certain plants he was looking for, chose the leaves of one and the roots of two others, and with a sharp rock, cut and pounded them into mush with some sap and some water to make a field dressing for Sid’s wounds, then left it on a flat rock to bake in the hot sun for awhile.

“So you remembered which plants to choose.”  Watching him with appreciation, Sid kidded, “You were always so single-minded in your sword training, that I didn’t think you ever paid any attention to the rest of my lessons.”

Mashing the concoction some more, Joe smiled gently.  “Does my sempai really have that little faith in his junior?”

“No,” Sid admitted sincerely.  “Your sempai has a great deal of respect for you, Joe, and always has.”

“Even after I presumed a kiss on you?” Joe queried.  “I shouldn’t have done that.  I’m sorry.”

“Is that something to apologize for?” Sid volleyed.

“I didn’t ask your permission,” Joe admitted.  “I forgot myself for a moment.  I'm sure you don’t feel that way about me.”

Now it was Sid’s turn to smile gently.  “Does the junior really have that little faith in his sempai?”

At that, Joe hesitated, looks up to ascertain Sid’s meaning.  But then he returned to his preparations.  “There’s no time for that right now,” he announced brusquely.

As Joe packed the salve into Sid’s wounds, starting with the ugly mess in his left shoulder above the collarbone, the pain sent Sid writhing and nearly screaming, head snapped back, eyes wide and rolling.  Obscenities grunted out behind clenched teeth.

Hesitating, Joe apologized again, “I’m sorry…  I have to do this.  You know that’s how you taught me.  You’ve got to hold still.”

Sid could only grunt and pant.  “I’ll… thank you later,” he gasped.  “Just let me… swear for now...!”

After he got Sid settled, Joe went a little ways away to hunt dinner.  Shortly he returned with an animal he’d killed.  They had to eat it raw as they didn’t dare make a fire.

Then at night, Sid insisted that Joe sleep for awhile while he took first watch.  Joe didn’t want to, because Sid was in bad shape, but he was almost dead on his feet. Sid promised to wake him later.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

But ultimately, despite their hop-scotching across the galaxy, the Zangyack discovered them.  Joe hid Sid in thick brush, leaving him with a pistol to take himself out rather than be taken prisoner again – if it came to that.  Then drawing them away from his sempai, he took the attackers on, at least fifteen to one.  So this is how their dash for freedom would end.  Still he would take as many down as he could before he went down himself.

Outnumbered and struck hard, Joe fell, his sword flying from his hand.  The mass closed in on him, weapons brandished.  Blows rained down. 

Until an angel in a red pirate coat appeared on the scene, pistol and sword flashing energetically, driving the mob away from Joe’s fallen body.

“Well, that’s a sight,” the newcomer drawled pleasantly, slashing carelessly but accurately at a couple of bodies rushing him, as Joe climbed stiffly to his feet.  “Zangyack fighting each other.  Looks like you could use some help.”  Then deftly kicking Joe’s sword up in the air for Joe to catch, he joined the fray.

Easily Joe caught the weapon, wheeling in one smooth move to cut down two of the closest attackers.  He and the angel fought side to side, back to back, automatically coördinating their moves without cues, like a dance, as wordlessly and effortlessly as he and Sid could do, as though they had done this a thousand times before. 

Until somehow, miraculously, amid a field of enemy corpses, they were the only two left standing.

“Thanks for the assist,” Joe offered gratefully.  A shift of head indicated the gold-buttoned red coat the other man wore.  “But you’re a pirate – you want money, and I have no money to pay you.”

The man grinned, a bright charming attractive smile.  “It’s not money I want,” he announced, direct gaze holding Joe’s gaze, as he amended cheerfully with specific emphasis, “It’s you.”

And beneath those words, Joe caught the definite undercurrent.  He didn’t answer, but lips drew into a quiet smile of comprehension.  Well, if that was the price for his and sempai’s rescue, he was willing to pay it.

Then the man’s countenance shifted to more serious interest.  “You’re skilled.  I like your style of fighting, and your swordsmanship.  My name is Captain Marvelous, and my ship is the Gōkai Galleon.  I have a good crew – the best in the universe – but I have no first-mate.  I could use someone talented like you.”

– ah, Joe considered, so he had misinterpreted the man’s previous words –

“Obviously there’s no love lost between you and the Zangyack, and my crew and I feel the same,” Marvelous admitted.  “We’ve been fighting them all over the galaxy.”  Extending his right hand, he urged, “Will you join us?”

“You have great skill yourself,” Joe acknowledged, clasping the proffered hand.  “I’ll join you,” he agreed, “but only if you’ll take my sempai too.  I won’t leave him, he’s badly wounded. ”

“Your sempai?”  Curiosity tinged Marvelous’s expression.  “Where is he?”

A slight nod to the right, indicating a weedy brambly dry-wash some distance away.  “Over there.  I hid him.  He needs medical care.”

The pirate’s gaze shifted in the indicated direction, until he saw the long lean figure dragging itself on the ground; slowly, clumsily emerging from the sanctuary of bramble-brush and witch-grass.

Quickly Joe and Marvelous hurried to him.  Cursorily Marvelous’s gaze took in the wounds and the feverish complexion, lips tightening at the obvious signs of torture.  Then reaching inside his coat for a hand-held device that might have been a communicator, he keyed in a code.  “We don’t have a doctor aboard, but Luka is good at field medicine.  We’ll do what we can for your friend.”

* * * * *

Aboard the Galleon, Joe left the cabin – now deemed as his – where Sid lay on the bed, the girl in yellow fastidiously and efficiently treating sempai’s injuries.  Climbing up the half-flight of stairs from the private crew’s-quarters to the main living deck, Joe found the pirate captain relaxing in the great-chair in vest and shirt-sleeves, the red coat now hanging carelessly on the coat-tree near the top of the stairs.  A cup of coffee with the distinct odor of rum sat on the little side-table at his elbow.

“You have a woman on your crew,” Joe announced what was evidently a surprise to him.

“You noticed.”  Marvelous grinned.  “Two of them, in fact – Luka, and also Princess Ahim.”

“Princess?”  Joe smiled faintly.  “ – is that what you call her?”

“Nope, she’s a real princess.  You’ll meet her in a little while.  She and Gai have gone out for groceries, now that we have two more mouths to feed.”

“The Zangyack have no females in their ranks,” Joe commented.  “Why do you have them on-board the ship – just for bedding purposes?”

At that, Marvelous laughed out loud.  “You can go ahead and try to bed them, but I wouldn’t advise it.  I guarantee, if you force the issue, you’ll find yourself thrown out, minus a few body parts.  Anyway, I’ve never bedded them.  Unless either of them ever asks someday – and then it’s a captain’s duty, of course, to make sure his crew is kept content.”

“In other words,” Joe smiled, interpreting in quiet amusement, “the captain has been left out in the cold.”

Again the flirty suggestive grin pinned Joe, as the pirate riposted, “Not anymore.”

And Joe knew he hadn’t misread the captain’s original words after all.  “So, is that included in the first-mate’s official duties?” he riposted.

“Not official duties, “ Marvelous corrected, a tiny smile quirking the corner of lips, “but definitely official perks…”  A slight tilt of head toward the stairs and the cabins below.  “So,” he inquired pointedly, “just how close are you and your sempai?  Too close for anyone to come in between?”

Joe’s calm gaze took in the other man.  “Just don’t ever give me an ultimatum, and you’ll never have to find out.”

Again the delighted chuckle.  “I’ll keep that in mind.”  His expression mellowed.  “Don’t worry about your friend.  Luka knows what she’s doing.  She’s cared for all of us after battle, even sewn us up when we needed it.”  Pushing back an unbuttoned white sleeve, he exposed the proof of a slight puckered scar-line on the inside of his right forearm.  “Give her a knife, and I’d even trust her to do surgery on me.”

“How did you find her?”

A tautness replaced the light expression on the captain’s face.  “The Zangyack destroyed her planet.  She had gathered as many orphaned children as she could find and they were all living in the rubble with her tending to them and feeding them.  Until another attack levelled the area and destroyed their hiding place, while she was out stealing some more supplies for them.  All the children were killed, including her little sister.  She was the only one to survive.  And Ahim, our princess – her planet went up in flames.  She watched as a Zangyack commander incinerated her parents right in front of her.  Both of them have vowed absolute vengeance on the Zangyack Empire.”  Serious eyes matched Joe’s.  “So, to answer your previous question, no, they’re not on this ship just to be my private harem.”

Joe frowned, pain tightening his gut.  For all he knew, he and Sid might have been involved in those attacks.  So many planets, but always the same end result, repeated over and over all across the universe.

“So now, your turn,” Marvelous urged, tone lightening again.  “What’s your story?  Just what did soldiers like you and your sempai do to get on the outs with the Empire?  Did you spit on your general?”

“We didn't realize at first about the Zangyack Empire's true ambitions - they lied to us - and we couldn’t stomach taking part any longer in the planetary devastation.  So we decided to resign – we just didn’t bother to inform our superiors.  And they didn’t approve of that.  I got away, sempai didn’t, so I went back for him.”  A meaningful glance in Marvelous’s direction.  “And the general is no longer on the payroll.”

Marvelous grinned his approval. “Very good.  You’ll fit right in.  You’ve already got the makings to be a fine pirate.”

From downstairs, the girl in yellow – Luka – came up the stairs to the main deck.  Disdain colored her expression as she announced bluntly,  “I took care of the Zangyack.”

And a sudden concern washed over Joe – realizing what he understood now, it might have been a terrible mistake to entrust sempai to her care.

A slight shift of eyes to Joe, and Marvelous smiled quietly.  “You’ve concerned our guest – maybe you’d better re-phrase that, Luka.”

She didn’t look like she wanted to, but with a sharp sigh she responded coolly, “I cleaned and dressed his wounds, then I gave him some medicine for the infection and for the pain.   He’ll probably live… if he’s got the will to live,” she added, with a tone that suggested she didn’t particularly care if he lived or not.

Well, even if she didn’t care, Joe cared very much.  “Thank you,” he acknowledged quietly.

Her chilly gaze focussed on him.  “I’ll take care your wounds next, Zangyack.”

“It’s not necessary,” Joe assured.  He was scraped and scuffed from the ordeal of their escape and from battle, but it was nothing compared to sempai’s wounds.

But the captain countered with a calm knowing smile, “It’s necessary.”

Luka’s nose wrinkled.  “But take a bath first,” she insisted.  “You stink.”  
 

 _to be continued_ …


End file.
